In the Army of World War II-the day of the jeep,
armored force, and airplane-it may be a surprise to
many to know that the Army Veterinary Service provided 2,065,289 days of
hospital treatment to Army horses and mules,1 operated a veterinary hospital
system in the Zone of Interior that totaled a stall capacity of 2,500 for
disabled animals, and developed animal evacuation plans for oversea theaters
comprising 72 separate detachments, companies, and hospitals, and several
provisional organizations (1).

The veterinary hospital was
the central establishment, whether at a station in the Zone of Interior or in
the field in a war theater, for the collection, shelter, segregation, care, and
treatment of sick and wounded animals. In
the U.S. Army, a reference to it may have been made as early as 1868
when the War Department ordered the establishment of an animal recuperation
depot at Fort
Leavenworth, in the military division of Missouri
(2). The veterinary hospital system and animal
evacuation plan that came into existence during World War I was studied,
tried in maneuvers, and further perfected in the peacetime years following the
Armistice and then was used when the need arose in World War II.

VETERINARY HOSPITAL SYSTEM
IN THE ZONE OF INTERIOR

The veterinary hospital
system in the Zone of Interior included stall accommodations for 2,500 horse
and mule patients and was operated in a manner closely paralleling the Medical
Department's hospitalization program for troops. The veterinary system included
facilities located in more than a hundred camps, training centers, remount
depots, purchasing and breeding zone headquarters, and ports. Together, these
provided 1,700,769 days of hospital treatment during the 5-year period, 1941
through 1945 (1). A lesser number disabled animals were treated as stable cases
and not admitted into the hospitals. These veterinary hospitals, for the
greater part, were operated as a Medical Department activity under the control
of the camp surgeon.

The beginning of World War
II found the Army's horse and mule strength at about 22,000 and its veterinary
hospital system comprising a patient capacity for 5.4 percent of the animal
strength or 1,188 stalls. Of this number of hospital stalls, 970 were located in
the Zone of Interior and 218 in the oversea departments. These stalls were
distributed among 2 general veterinary hospitals, 41 station veterinary
hospitals, and 32 veterinary dispen≠

1During the preceding 5
peacetime years (1936 through 1940), hospital treatment days totaled 1,631,463.
Sick and wounded animals not admitted to the veterinary hospitals were
classified for treatment as "stable cases" and their total days of
treatment (stable days) were considerably less than the number of hospital days
of treatment.

564

saries (3), but those having
accommodations for 10 or more animal patients numbered only 30 (table 44).

1Additional construction
during fiscal years 1941 and 1942 increased the ward capacities at Fort
Bliss
by 150, at Front Royal by 80, at Fort
Sill
by 30, at Fort
Riley
by 200, at Fort
Robinson
by 80, at Fort
Clark
by 30, at Fort
Reno
by 140, and at Fort
Bragg
by 110.
Source: Report, Veterinary
Division, Surgeon General's Office, 1 June 1940, Stations and Service,
United States
and Foreign, Arranged in Approximate Order of
Animal Strength.

Beginning in the fall of
1940 and continuing through the fiscal year ending 30 June 1942, a wartime building program added more than
1,450 stalls to the veterinary hospital system in the Zone of Interior (4, 5).
The 2-year program-costing
$933,500-included a veterinary hospital (10-stall);
17 dispensaries; 16 surgical clinics; 8 colic buildings; 54 medical,
contagious, and surgical wards; and a variety of accessorial structures such as
2 autopsy slabs, 4 dipping vats, 3 squeeze chutes, 16 corrals, 18 sheds, and
barrack accommodations for 482 enlisted personnel. These comprised the
establishment of new hospitals and dispensaries at 12 Army camps (table 45) and
addition to the existent facilities at 5 camps and the 3 remount depots. The
additional construction at the depots included the expansion of the hospital
ward capacities, and at Forts Bliss, Bragg, Clark,
Riley, and Sill, included dispensaries, surgical
clinics, and ward buildings. The 12 new veterinary facilities each in-

565

cluded a surgical clinic,
one or more wards, sometimes a colic building and corral, and a few other
structures; however, the facilities at Camp Carson and Camp Hale, Colo., were
the larger of these and included also new dispensaries (4 and 10, respectively)
for mounted units which were in training.

The above construction
program was completed with a degree of rapidity and ease that reflected
favorably on the preparatory planning which had taken into account such matters
as the determination of requirements and the development of construction
plans. There were also matters of inspecting the buildings during construction,
and, later, the assigning of operational personnel. The urgency of the moment
in which these problems seemed to arise made necessary the finalization and
centralization of many matters in the Veterinary Division, Surgeon General's
Office. The latter alone could obtain firsthand information from the War
Department staff on pending plans to augment the Army's horse and mule strength
or to organize and train a mounted unit at a particular camp. The requirements
were stated in terms of the kind, capacity, and location of the veterinary
hospitals and dispensaries (6, 7). Actually, the capacities of the facilities
were not fixed, but were designed to include as many stalls as were needed to
hospitalize 3.5 percent of the animals in a camp or unit and to provide 360.5
square feet2 of corral space for each stall
(8). The station veterinary hospital was designated ordinarily to serve the
local camp of which it was a part, but where the requirements were quite small
or were extended to include a large number of widely dispersed mounted units,
the camp was provided with a dispensary only or with a number of dispensaries
supplemental to the hospital. The latter were designated regimental dispensaries
and served specific mounted units. The camps selected for the approved building
program were recommended by the Surgeon General's Office in requests to The
Adjutant General or the War Department Bureau of the Budget for the necessary
appropriations of money and were influenced by the ex≠

2An exception to this was
the provision by AR 30-415, 1 June 1942, that the hospital at remount depots
would have a capacity equal to 10 percent of the normal animal strength.

566

pressed intentions of The
Quartermaster General and chiefs of the mounted services.

With few exceptions, the
hospitals, dispensaries, clinics, wards, and other veterinary structures built
during World War II followed the construction plans which, since 1937,3 were
developed or perfected by the Office of the Quartermaster General in cooperation
with the Surgeon General's Office (4). There were at least 11 approved plans as
of the fall of 1941 (table 46). As these were entered in the building projects,
the Surgeon General's Office encouraged the local camp veterinary officers to
inspect them4 and, also, to requisition those items of Medical Department
supply that would have to be fixed in the structure (such as Ajax dressing
stocks and operating tables) (9). Under the provisions of Army regulations, the
station veterinarian was responsible to The Surgeon General for expressing his
opinion on the exact sites and arrangements of the new hospital or dispensary
and for reporting on the compliances of any construction with the approved plans
(6, 7, 10). As the building program progressed, a number of corrective
suggestions5 in the plans were made by the station veterinarians (11 through 17), and these, after a review jointly by the Veterinary Division, Surgeon
General's Office, and the Office of the Quartermaster General, were incorporated
into changes to the plans and were referred to the civilian contractors for
compliance.

In the same manner that it
influenced the hospital capacities, the animal strength was used also to
determine the personnel space authorizations and the assignments of operational
personnel to the station veterinary hospitals. During World War II, Army regulations provided for the assignment of at
least four enlisted personnel in the grade of private or private first class
when the camp's animal strength totaled 200 animals, and one additional such
enlisted personnel for every additional 75 animals. Noncommissioned officers
were allotted one for each station, and one for every four privates first class.
The station complement for veterinary officers was expressed at one per station
having 200 to 600 animals, another one where the station strength was between
601 and 1,100 animals, three for a station with 1,101 to 1,600 animals, and thus
in graduated increases up to six veterinary officers where the station strength

3Actually, certain
construction plans were studied by the Veterinary Division, during the early
thirties. Later, during 1941, the responsibility for this construction planning
was transferred from the Quartermaster Corps to the Corps of Engineers, which up
to then was responsible only for construction planning in a theater of
operations. The exceptional structures were remount depot ward buildings which
were constructed pursuant to modified plans approved by the Chief, Remount
Division, Office of the Quartermaster General. This action seemingly was based
on the situation that an unexpected program for 28,860 horses and mules had been
approved for immediate procurement in October 1940. However, before the
construction became available, The Quartermaster General had leased several
buildings for veterinary use at the depot. 4One particular problem was
that contractors attempted to place tar paper and wood lathe strip on buildings. 5Changes recommended
included the sloping and adding of drains to the clinic floors, the lowering of the feedboxes from 41 to 34 inches above the floor, the
replacing of metal feed racks with wooden troughs so as to provide head room and
to lessen interference with the ventilators, the lowering of the bails
(separating bars) between stalls from 48 to 36 inches above the floor, and the
lowering of the bottom boards of box stalls from 8 to 7 inches above the floor.

567

was between 2,801 and 3,500
animals (18, 19). These regulatory provisions were actually used by the Surgeon
General's Office in planning requirements or recommending assignments of
veterinary personnel to certain Army camps.

ANIMAL EVACUATION PLAN

In contrast to the hospital
system in the Zone of Interior, the Army Veterinary Service in the oversea
theaters and during maneuver training operated an animal evacuation plan. This
included, of course, the hospitalizing of sick and wounded animals in the field
or during campaign but such was only a part of the evacuation plan. The other
major action was the progressive movement of disabled animals rearward from the
frontline tactical units. For the accomplishment of this operational
responsibility in World War II, 72 veterinary units of 11 different kinds were
organized (table 47). With few exceptions, these were deployed in the Central
and the Southwest Pacific Areas, supported the Fifth U.S. Army in the
Mediterranean theater, the Seventh U.S. Army in the European theater, Merrill's
Marauders and the MARS Brigade in the Burma campaigns, or were superimposed on
the Allied-sponsored Chinese military forces in the China-Burma-India theater.
Altogether, these supported U.S. animal strength in the oversea theaters that
increased from a yearly mean of 3,009 in 1941 to 11,121 in 1945 (5);6 there
were untold thousands of animals in the U.S.-supervised Italian Army pack trains
and in the Allied-sponsored Chinese military forces. Wherever formed, the
veterinary evacuation plans successfully provided for the early and prompt
discovery, treatment and segregation of disabled animals, their orderly
movement to areas in back of the combat units, and their restoration to full
duty status in veterinary hospitals, and conserved animal strength and
efficiency.

Animal evacuation generally
paralleled the Medical Department system for evacuating troop casualties.
However, there was the difference that animals disabled beyond the chance for
recovery into the status of serviceable duty or infected with a serious
communicable disease were destroyed.

Following World War I, the
units planned for animal evacuation in a theater of operations were changed to
satisfy the needs in a planned field force or a theoretical field army whose
composition also was changed from time to time. The units were the veterinary
company of the medical regiment, the veterinary troop of the medical squadron,
and the veterinary evacuation, convalescent, general, and station hospitals (20). The veterinary company was designed to collect disabled animals from the
veterinary detachments included in the composition of the divisional units and
supply trains and to operate a veterinary aid station within the infantry
division. The same veterinary unit was planned also for assignment in the ratio
of one per corps and four in each field army when the so-called corps troops and
army troops each had a certain

6The annual mean strength
for the oversea theaters was 2,193 animals in 1942, 6,965 animals in 1943, and
9,786 animals in 1944.

Authorized 1 per camp having a small animal
strength. Included an office, latrine, rooms for attendants, supplies and
heater, dispensary, treatment room with operating table and dressing
stocks, and 10 stalls.

Regimental veterinary dispensary

VD-1

800-13012

...do...

Authorized 1 per separate mounted unit of
squadron size or larger. Included an office, heater room, dispensary, and
dressing floor.

Clinic, veterinary, medical

C-5

700-271

5 May 1937

Authorized to supplement the surgical clinic
where the animal strength warranted its need. Included an office, latrine,
rooms for supplies and heater, dispensary, and dressing floor with stocks
and hitching rails.

Clinic, veterinary, surgical

C-6

700-272

...do...

Authorized 1 per camp. Included an office,
latrine, rooms for supplies and heater, dispensary, laboratory, and room
with operating table and hitching rails.

Veterinary colic building

VCB-1

800-13082

18 Sept. 1941

Authorized 1 per camp for each 3,000 animal
strength. Included colic room and rooms for supplies and heater.

Veterinary ward

VW-30

800-1303, -04, -052

24 Sept. 1941

Authorized 1 per camp for each 600-1,200
animal strength. Included rooms for attendants and heater, treatment room
with dressing stocks, and 24 single and 6 box stalls.

Veterinary contagious ward

VCW-20

800-1306, -13072

...do...

Authorized 1 per camp for each 300-600 animal
strength as a substitute for the veterinary ward. Included rooms for
attendants and heater, treatment room, and 16 single and 4 box stalls.

Veterinary autopsy slab

V. A. S.-1

800-13022

17 May 1941

Authorized 1 per camp and 1 additional for
camps having more than 3,000 animals. Included a concrete platform and
adjoining firepit.

Tank, dipping, animal

D.T.-1

700-341, -342, -3433

May 1937

Included a dipping vat and a building for
heating and mixing dip solutions.

1The table excludes the
named hospitals in the oversea departments and the provisional organizations
formed during the war in the oversea theaters; it enumerates only those
constituted
by War Department authorization and then activated and organized pursuant to T/O&E's. 2Includes the 4th Veterinary
Company (Philippine Scouts). 3Includes units transferred from the Mediterranean
theater. 4Includes the predecessor
veterinary sections and detachments organized pursuant to pertinent portions of
T/O's for field artillery pack battalions and quartermaster remount troops, but
excludes those detachments included in certain veterinary composite units such
as the 78th Veterinary Hospital Detachment, and the 113th Medical Service
Company (Veterinary).
5The T/O's for the
veterinary convalescent hospital were canceled on 14 May 1954.

572

number of animals (2,000 and
1,700 animals, respectively). The veterinary company of the medical regiment of
an infantry division was substituted in the cavalry division by the veterinary
troop of a medical squadron.

It was planned that the
division, corps, and army aid stations were to be relieved of their more
seriously sick and wounded animals by three army≠assigned veterinary evacuation
hospitals. The latter, unlike its World War II successor, had a twofold
operational function: To collect or evacuate from the aid stations and to
provide hospitalization normally for 250 animal patients. From such evacuation
hospital, the recovered animals could be issued into the army's remount depot
system, and those requiring rest and recuperation could be moved into the
army-controlled 1,000-patient veterinary convalescent hospital. However, any
animal requiring a longer convalescent period or definitive treatment was to be
evacuated out of the area of the field army into the theater's communications
zone to the veterinary general hospital. Ordinarily, three such general
hospitals, each with a normal patient capacity of 500 animals, were planned to
support a field army. Another communications zone installation, but not a part
of the evacuation chain, was the 150-patient veterinary station hospital. It was
designed to render the veterinary animal service for ports of debarkation and
remount depots in the rear areas of a theater. Evacuation out of a theater of
operations into the Zone of Interior was not contemplated.

The internal organization of
these veterinary units remained constant for many years. However, resulting from
the programs of increasing mechanization and motorization, the forecasted
requirements of the numbers of veterinary units were lessened appreciably.
Actually, these reductions were made rapidly during the 5 years preceding World
War II. The veterinary units were moved out of the new streamlined tactical army
and transferred into the General Headquarters Reserve. The latter's veterinary
hospitals and other units were gradually reduced in parallel with the reductions
taking place in the cavalry and with the motorization of other mounted units.
During 1940 and 1941, the projected animal strength for mobilization planning
was decreased from 45,500 to 31,221 animals-the latter including 2 cavalry
divisions (15,988), 1 cavalry brigade (3,225), 9 cavalry regiments (5,166), and
12 field artillery battalions (6,852) (21, 22, 23). The War Department Munitions
Program, 1940, provided for 2 separate veterinary companies and 10 evacuation, 2
convalescent, 5 general, and 4 station hospitals (24), but reductions were
suggested for the next year.

The internal organization
and the assigned operational functions of veterinary units were changed. The
changes were made in recognition that a relatively few animals which were being
retained in the newer field forces would be widely scattered, this requiring
long-distance evacuation practices and smaller units. At about the beginning of
the pre-World War II emergency periods, the functional organization of the
veterinary evacuation hospital was amended so that it became only a field
hospital installation of a

573

reduced patient capacity (of
150 animals); its evacuating functions were transferred to the veterinary
company, medical regiment (25, 26). A short time later, the medical regiment was
completely reorganized, including the disassociation of its veterinary element-the latter becoming the separate veterinary company (27).

The new T/O's (tables of
organization) for the separate veterinary company and veterinary evacuation
hospital were subsequently changed from time to time during the war period, as
were also the tables for the veterinary troop and veterinary convalescent,
general, and station hospitals (28 through 45) (table 48). Some of the changes
included the removal of Medical Department detachments from the larger
hospitals, the conservation of Veterinary Corps officers in certain unit
assignments by their replacement with Medical Administrative Corps officers,
and the increase in the rank of hospital commanders. Equally important were
the unit reorganizations: The veterinary company of five platoons became a unit
of three collecting and treatment platoons and a motor evacuation section in
1943; the veterinary troop became a unit of two collecting and treatment
platoons and one clearing platoon; and the station hospital was reorganized in
1942 from one of a normal patient capacity of 150 animals to one that could
operate also as a 300-patient hospital. Also, the convalescent hospital was
reduced in 1943 to a normal operational capacity of 500 patients; the latter's
T/O, however, was canceled during May 1945 (46). Of course, another divisional
collecting and treatment unit came into existence during the war in connection
with development of the new light (pack) or mountain division-this being the
veterinary company, mountain medical battalion (47, 48).7
It was comparable to the former veterinary company in the peacetime
infantry division or to the existing veterinary troop in the cavalry division.
In addition to the foregoing changes, there were many pertaining to the
equipment of these veterinary units, including the addition of arms and
armament.

With these wartime changes,
other planning for newer and smaller veterinary units was undertaken. Up to
that time, needless to say, the hospitals and evacuation units were studied on
the concept of a single theater of operations where a relatively large number
of animals might be used. The newer planning took into consideration the needs
of animal evacuation chains in one or more theaters where the animal strengths
would be relatively small or widely dispersed. Actually, this multitheater
concept and small task force planning was little considered in veterinary
mobilization planning prior to the war. In fact, the original demands for
operating small-scale evacuation plans in the Southwest Pacific Area, and later
in the China-Burma-India

7Internally, the company was
organized into the headquarters, the 1st, 2d, and 3d (collecting and treatment)
platoons, and the 4th (motor evacuation) platoon; it was planned to evacuate
and provide first aid treatment for a divisional animal strength of
approximately 6,000 horses and mules. The mountain division was developed from
the original light division which was studied for specialist warfare (jungle,
alpine, and amphibious) and was a specific type comparable to the infantry,
cavalry, armored, or airborne divisions.

theater and the Central
Pacific Area, were met necessarily by the organization and deployment of
separate veterinary detachments such as were described in the existing T/O's
for field artillery units and quartermaster remount troops. Beginning in
1942 and continuing to mid-1944, 43 of these detachments were organized: 7
lettered sections (each with two officers and nine enlisted personnel) and 27
numbered detachments (each with one officer and four enlisted personnel) being
organized pursuant to the T/O's for a field artillery pack battalion, and 9
lettered sections (each with one officer and seven enlisted personnel) being
organized as described in the T/O's of a quartermaster remount troop. Of these,
27 were reorganized and redesignated at a later date as numbered veterinary
sections animal service, or veterinary animal service detachments, Teams DC
(each with space authorizations of one officer and four enlisted personnel).
The latter was one of six kinds of veterinary cellular teams concerned with
animals that came into existence after mid-1943.

having a patient capacity of
30 animals, and the veterinary team, type 2, or veterinary hospital detachment,
Team DB (with 2 officers and 46, later 35, enlisted personnel), having a patient
capacity of 75 animals. A later edition of the original 23 July 1943 tables for
these cellular team organizations added two different-sized motor evacuation
sections or detachments: Team CD (with three enlisted personnel) was designed to
evacuate 8 animals at a time on a single semitrailer truck, and Team CE (with an
officer and 10 enlisted personnel) was designed to handle 24 disabled animals.
The T/O's also provided for the assignment of certain administrative personnel
to a command having three or more veterinary animal service detachments, but
it was not until 18 January 1945 that the tables described these personnel in a
new Team AR or headquarters, veterinary animal service (with an authorization
for one officer and two enlisted personnel).

Thus, during World War
II, the type units developed for animal evacuation in the theaters numbered
thirteen. Of these, 11 were actually used in the organization of 72 T/O units-there being no convalescent hospital and
small veterinary evacuation
detachment (table 47). Of this number of units, only 6 were in active military
service at the time of Pearl Harbor, and, during the war period, 49 were newly
organized in the Zone of Interior, and 17 were organized in the oversea
theaters. Eight units organized in the Zone of Interior were undeployed to an
oversea theater, and 26 were reorganized into wholly different units,
inactivated, or disbanded prior to V-E or V-J Days (table 49). The manner in
which these veterinary units were deployed in the animal evacuation plans of the
oversea theaters is described in the following pages.

OVERSEA DEPLOYMENT

Mediterranean Theater

An animal evacuation plan
was developed to meet the urgent needs of the Fifth U.S. Army after its landing
on the Italian peninsula at Salerno Gulf (9 September 1943). Though a few
animals were used earlier in the American combat divisions in North Africa and
during the Sicilian campaign (49),8 little, if any, thought had been
given previously to veterinary hospitals and evacuation units in the
Mediterranean theater. Six months after the landing, a U.S. veterinary
evacuation hospital arrived from the Zone of Interior and was deployed into the
Fifth U.S. Army area at Teano. In the interim, that Army's animal strength grew
from almost nothing to 1,078 mules and horses which were included in two field
artillery battalions and

8In Africa, the 3d Infantry
Division, I Corps, Fifth U.S. Army, had 10 burros during May 1943 and gained an
additional 82 burros during the next month; of these, 3 burros were destroyed on
account of severe injury, and a few were lost, stolen, or strayed. Sixty burros
accompanied the division in its landing on Sicily (10 July 1943), but all died
on account of heat exhaustion and overexertion before the end of July 1943. In
the drive along the north coast of Sicily (3-16 Aug. 1943), 487 mules and 219
horses were procured locally (by requisition or confiscation); 43 percent of
these animals were killed in action.

the pack trains which were
improvised by the 3d, 34th, 36th, and 45th Infantry Divisions, and another
1,835 animals with Italian Army pack mule trains which were operating in the
divisional areas. The Italian trains were manned and equipped originally by the
Italian Government and then were deployed under the control and supervision of
the U.S. forces in the theater. At this time also, the Fifth U.S. Army included
the French Expeditionary Corps, with approximately 4,300 animals-this number
increasing to more than 9,000 mules and horses before July 1944 when the control
over that Allied force was transferred to the Seventh U.S. Army for entry into
the southern France campaign. In the course of time, the pack trains of the U.S.
combat divisions were discontinued and replaced by the Italian pack mule trains
(or companies); the latter's animal strength, beginning after December 1943,
was gradually increased to a peak of 4,391 mules and 158 horses (as of March
1945). Altogether, the Fifth U.S. Army's mean animal strength in the period from
December 1943 through June 1945 averaged 5,150 mules and horses (table 50) (50,
51). Its disabilities
approximated 3,000, including 795 battle casualties, of which number 5.9
percent died or were destroyed on account of disease and injury; another 1,300
animals were killed in action. For the collection and treatment of these 3,000
or more disabled animals, an evacuation plan was developed and operated that
included as many as 2 separate veterinary companies, a veterinary company of a
mountain division, 2 evacuation detachments, and at least 9 hospital
organizations and units, in addition to a complete remount operation. A portion
of this plan involved, of course, the Mediterranean theater's Peninsular Base
Section and U.S.≠supervised Italian veterinary hospital organizations.

During the first few months
on the Italian peninsula, the U.S. combat divisions hurriedly and unexpectedly
had begun to assemble animals-almost any kind of mule or
horse-that could be
used in the conduct of reconnaissance or to transport ammunition, medical
supplies, and rations to the outpost positions in the southern Apennine
mountains (52). By December 1943, such animals numbered more than a thousand and
were organized by the divisions into so-called provisional pack trains.9 These
were operated, equipped, and controlled by the division veterinarians because
other personnel were unavailable. The animal losses in these divisional trains
were evidently great. For example, the Provisional Reconnaissance Troop, Mounted, of the 3d
Infantry Division, with 620 mules and horses, during October 1943 lost 108
animals, 88 being killed by gunfire and 20 being destroyed on account of severe
gunshot wounds (49). In the
34th Infantry Division, only 30 animals remained from a group of 75 after
little less than 2 months of operations. These losses could be expected under
the conditions under which the

9During January 1944,
the provisional pack trains included 906 mules and 257 horses. These were
divided between the U.S. combat divisions as follows: 463 in the 3d Infantry
Division, 204 in the 34th Infantry Division, 169 in the 36th Infantry Division,
and 327 in the 45th Infantry Division. The trains were discontinued at about the
time the divisions prepared for movement from the Naples-Foggia battlefront to
the diversionary attack at Anzio; however, at least one divisional pack train-that of the 36th Infantry
Division-was moved by LST to Anzio (20 May
1944). The 1st Armored Division also had a pack train.

1The parenthetical data
relate only to U.S. Army animals for the period that such were in the army, with
the exception of the period after April 1945 when the 10th Mountain Division
was provided with approximately 850 animals. The data for the period from
December 1943 through June 1944 relate to United States, French, and
U.S.-supervised Italian Army animals. Beginning with July 1944, the data pertain
to U.S.-supervised Italian Army pack companies.
Sources: (1) Veterinary
Reports of Sick and Wounded Animals, U. S. Units, Fifth U. S. Army, December
1943 through June 1944. (2) Veterinary Reports of Sick and Wounded Animals,
Consolidated Allied Units, Fifth U.S. Army, February 1944 through June 1945.

trains were assembled and
used. The animals, removed from the Italian countryside, were unconditioned and
not suitable for military campaign; the divisional personnel were inexperienced
in animal care and management; the local resources of feed, horseshoes, and
veterinary supplies had been removed or destroyed by the retreating Germans; the
pack trains were the select

584

targets of artillery fire
and mortar barrage; and the animals which became disabled could not be removed
from the divisional areas.

Foreseeing that the combat
divisions were not to be denied their animal transport, the Veterinarian, Fifth
U.S. Army, supported and developed plans for an orderly supply of animals and
the care of those becoming disabled (52). Breeding stations, remount depots,
racetracks, and stables, as they were uncovered in the northward advances of the
Allied forces, were set up as hospital and remount depot sites; these depots
later were operated by a provisional remount organization identified as an
activity of the Peninsular Base Section. Originally, remount depots were
established at Persano (September 1943), Santa Maria (November 1943), and
Bagnoli (December 1943), each with a veterinary section which operated depot
dispensaries. Contrary to the accepted principles of animal evacuation, for more
than a year these dispensaries received disabled animals directly from the
combat divisions and veterinary evacuation hospitals of the Fifth U.S. Army. In
the beginning, a Fifth U.S. Army provisional veterinary hospital, organized on 8
December 1943, and manned by Italian Army veterinary personnel, and a French
Army veterinary ambulance company (the 541st) opened station in the vicinity of
these remount depots, but both units were soon lost to the French Expeditionary
Corps.

The most singular gain in
the early growth of the Mediterranean theater's animal service plan came during
December 1943 when the first of several Italian pack mule trains and two
veterinary evacuation hospitals were received on the Italian peninsula from
Sardinia. The former had approximately 1,600 mules and horses which were
transshipped and used in the Italian campaigns. They were deployed to augment,
and later to replace, the provisional trains of the U.S. combat divisions.10 The two Italian veterinary evacuation hospitals-the 110th and the
130th-established stations at Treponti and Nocelleto in back of the divisional
trains and Italian pack trains of the II Corps, Fifth U.S. Army.11 A third
hospital unit-the U.S. 17th Veterinary Evacuation
Hospital-newly arrived from
the Zone of Interior,12 established station on 5 April 1944, at Teano
(52).
These hospitals forwarded replacement animals in exchange for the disabled
animals received from the pack trains and evacuated those animals requiring
further treatment out of the army area to the remount depot dispensaries.

10At this time, the Italian
pack mule trains each included 4 line officers, a veterinary officer, 400
enlisted men, and 325 animals. A year and a half later, they were U.S.-equipped
and were provided with 269 animals.
11These Italian hospital
units each included 4 veterinary officers, 1 administrative officer, and 100
enlisted men. When equipped by the Military Ministry of the Italian Army, the
units were designated, for example, as the ITI-ITI 110th Veterinary Evacuation
Hospital; during February 1945 such units were equipped by the United States,
and the unit was redesignated as the US-ITI Veterinary Evacuation Hospital. 12The 17th Veterinary
Evacuation Hospital arrived on 12 March 1944, at Oran, Algeria, and then
transshipped on 16-28 March to Naples, Italy. En route to Naples, one enlisted
man was killed during in enemy aerial attack on the ship.

585

With the beginning of the
spring 1944 operations, the evacuation hospitals were supporting four Italian
pack trains, the 36th and 45th Infantry Divisions' trains, and the 601st and
602d Field Artillery Battalions-their aggregate animal strengths approximating
3,000 mules and horses. The 601st and 602d Field Artillery Battalions, having
arrived from the Zone of Interior during March 1944, were deployed in the Fifth
U.S. Army until mid-July 1944 when they were transferred to the Seventh U.S.
Army; each included an organic veterinary detachment.

In the offensive that
started on 11 May 1944, and culminated with the capture of Rome (4 June), the
three evacuation hospitals continued their support of the Italian pack trains,
which now numbered seven (with 1,964 mules and horses), and the 601st and 602d
Field Artillery Battalions and the 36th Infantry Division's provisional train
(with 1,189 animals). A fourth hospital organization-the Italian 210th
Veterinary Hospital-joined the Fifth U.S.
Army on 3 May 1944, but was
disbanded during the next month. In this offensive, taking place in the
mountains about the Garigliano River, the hospitals remained fixed in their
original positions because no suitable sites could be found in the advanced
areas.

The Fifth U.S. Army made
little use of animals during the latter part of the Rome-Arno Campaign or in the "battle of pursuit" across the plains area to the Gothic Line in
the northern Apennines. During this time, however, the 17th Veterinary Evacuation Hospital moved
six times in the wake of the 601st and 602d Field Artillery Battalions, reaching Pontiginione in mid≠July 1944 and then closing station on 12 August
1944. The unit received 251 animal patients; 194 were evacuated for further
hospital treatment, 51 were returned to duty, and 6 died or were destroyed.
Also, the Italian 110th and 130th Veterinary Evacuation Hospitals were moved out
of Treponti on 20 June and Nocelleto on 1 July, respectively, and then through
Rome and northward to take stations at Vaglia on 14 September and at Cafaggiolo
on 22 September, respectively.

The 1944 summer lull in
animal utilization saw the reorganization of the Italian pack mule companies
under an Italian 20th Pack Mule Group and the attachment of U.S. veterinary
officers as supervisory personnel. Other changes were made in the Fifth U.S.
Army incident to the preparations for Operation ANVIL (the Allied invasion of
southern France). These included the transfer of the two field artillery
battalions (with 800 animals) and the French Expeditionary Corps (with 8,000
animals) to the Seventh U.S. Army, as well as the 17th Veterinary Evacuation
Hospital and the new 45th Veterinary Company (Separate) (52). The last-named
unit was the continuation of the 6482d Separate Veterinary Company
(Provisional), which had been formed on 24 May 1944, at Oran, transshipped on
18-23 June to Naples, and then redesignated the 45th Separate Veterinary Company
effective 16 July 1944.

586

At the beginning of the new
campaign to penetrate the Gothic Line (10 September 1944), the Fifth U.S. Army's
evacuation plan included two Italian evacuation hospitals: The 110th at Vaglia
and after 17-18 October at Pitramala and the 130th at Cafaggiolo. The latter was
joined on 2 October by the Italian 212th Veterinary Evacuation Hospital, which
was then moved on 6-8 January 1943, to Lucca.13 A fourth, the Italian 211th
Veterinary
Evacuation Hospital, established station at Pontepetri on 24 February 1945.14 In this period, the number of Italian pack trains under the operational
control of American divisions and corps increased from 8 (with 2,706 mules and
131 horses as of 30 September 1944) to 11. Up to 31 December, these companies
had lost more than 700 disabled animals to the evacuation hospitals for
additional treatment, and another 461 animals were killed in action. During
February 1945, the 11 pack companies were assigned to the divisional units of
the two army corps in the Fifth U.S. Army, each corps being supported by two
evacuation hospitals, as shown below:

II Corps

Italian 110th and 130th
Veterinary Evacuation Hospitals

34th Infantry Division

13th Italian Pack Mule Company

1st Armored Division

11th and 15th Companies

91st Infantry Division

1st, 9th, and 16th Companies

IV Corps

Italian 211th and 212th
Veterinary Evacuation Hospitals

10th Mountain Division

5th and 17th Companies

92d Infantry Division

12th Company

6th South African Armored Division

10th Company

Brazilian Expeditionary Force

18th
Company

The corps assignment of
divisions and the divisional assignments of the Italian pack trains were changed
frequently. In the next month (March 1945), the pack trains numbered 14, and
their animal strength reached a peak of 4,549 mules and horses.

During April 1945, the
number of Italian pack mule companies with the Fifth U.S. Army was increased to
15, and the four Italian veterinary evacuation hospitals were moved northward-the 110th moving to Polvrifitto on 26-28 April; the 130th moving to
Verona on 28-30 April, the 211th moving on 1-3 April to Riolo and then to
Ghisione on 26 April, and the 212th moving on 20-22 April to Pal. Beceadelli.
These trains and hospitals were assigned as follows:

II Corps

Italian 110th and 130th
Veterinary Evacuation Hospitals

1st Armored Division

10th Italian Pack Mule Company

34th Infantry Division

15th Company

88th Infantry Division

1st, 2d, 13th, 16th, and 21st Companies

91st Infantry Division

11th and 19th Companies

13The Italian 212th
Veterinary Evacuation Hospital arrived at Cafaggiolo (from the Florence staging
area) for training purposes and was not equipped for field operations at this
time.
14The Italian 211th
Veterinary Evacuation Hospital arrived in the Florence staging area on 5
January 1945, and then moved out to Pontepetri.

587

IV Corps

Italian 211th and
212th
Veterinary Evacuation Hospitals

10th Mountain Division

5th and 17th Companies

85th Infantry Division

9th Company

92d Infantry Division

12th Company

Brazilian Expeditionary Force

18th and 20th Companies

At about this time, which
marked the beginning of Operation GRAPESHOT (the capture of Bologna and the
subsequent breakout into the Po River Valley), the evacuation plan of the Fifth
U.S. Army was augmented with the 36th Separate Veterinary Company and the
beginning operations of the veterinary animal service organic to the 10th
Mountain Division. This company, arriving in Italy on 14 April 1945, during the
next 3 months received 118 animal patients from the Italian veterinary
evacuation hospitals and other units, and provided 1,377 hospital treatment days
(53). The 10th Mountain Division, arriving in Italy during January 1945, was
provided with a few Italian pack companies, and, in addition, during April, its
86th Mountain Infantry Regiment, 10th Cavalry Reconnaissance Troop, and 605th
Field Artillery Battalion were provided with 841 pack mules and cavalry horses (52,
54).15 The latter animals, when becoming disabled, were
collected by the
division's Veterinary Company, 10th Mountain Medical Battalion. Until the end
of that month, the disabilities within the division numbered 67 animals
(including 14 battle casualties); of these, 45 animal patients were evacuated
out of the combat area to the 2605th Veterinary General Hospital.

In back of the Fifth U.S.
Army, the foregoing evacuation plan was supported by a veterinary hospital
system controlled by the Peninsular Base Section, a services of supply
organization. Approximately 1,500 disabled animals were evacuated from the
combat divisions and Allied units. This hospital system originally included
remount depot dispensaries (52)16 and the Fifth U.S. Army Provisional
Veterinary Hospital which was renamed the Italian 210th Veterinary Hospital and
then transferred to the French Expeditionary Corps. The latter's hospital
operations at Grosseto, after mid-1944, were resumed by the new Italian 213th
Veterinary General Hospital, renamed the Italian Veterinary General Hospital
and later, on 31 March 1945, the Italian 1st Veterinary General Hospital. This
organization, operating under the technical supervision of U.S. Army veterinary
officers, received more than a thousand animal patients (55, 56, 57) during the
period

15In mid-May, following
the surrender of the Germans in Italy, the division transferred its mules to the
3298th Quartermaster Service Company and on 15 July transferred its horses to a
quartermaster remount unit. Until the last date, the 10th Mountain Division's
veterinary service in the Mediterranean theater had reported on a total of 116
cases of diseases and injuries and had provided 433 treatment days. 16The remount depots were
located originally at Persano, Santa Maria, and Bagnoli. These were closed in mid-1944, and newer ones were
established at Grosseto and Pisa. After the capitulation of the German armies,
thousands of captured animals were assembled at San Martino and Mirandola.

Sources: (1) Veterinary
Reports of Sick and Wounded Animals, Italian 213th Veterinary General Hospital,
July through September 1944. (2) Veterinary Reports of Sick and Wounded Animals, Italian Veterinary
General Hospital, October 1944 through March 1945.
(3) Veterinary Reports of Sick and Wounded Animals, Italian 1st
Veterinary General Hospital, April through 20 July 1945.

of 1 year or until its
inactivation on 20 July 1945 (table 51). Of this number of patients, 599 were
received direct from the Fifth U.S. Army's veterinary evacuation hospitals. In
the spring of 1945 also, the evacuation plan of the Peninsular Base Section was
augmented by four veterinary hospitals and two evacuation detachments. The
latter, including the 643d and the 644th Veterinary Evacuation Detachments, were
activated and organized on 12 March 1945, at Leghorn, Italy, and were used in
the moving of hospitals to new locations and of animal patients out of the
army area or to other hospitals (fig. 61). The new hospitals were the 2604th
Veterinary Station Hospital (Overhead)17 organized on 15 March 1945, at Leghorn
(58) (fig. 62); the 2605th Veterinary General Hospital (Overhead),18 organized on 15 March 1945, at Naples (59); the Italian 1st Veterinary
Station Hospital, formed on 1 April 1945, at Bagnoli; and the Italian 2d
Veterinary General Hospital. Each of the Italian units were attached to the
respective American station and general hospital organizations for operational
control.

17The hospital was
organized as a modification of a standard T/O unit but had only 4 officers and
19 enlisted personnel. It was disbanded on 20 July 1945, at Leghorn, Italy.18The hospital was
organized as a modification of a standard T/O unit, with 6 officers and 31
enlisted personnel. It was disbanded on 30 July 1945, at Leghorn, Italy.

The 2604th and Italian 1st
Veterinary Station Hospitals, joining on 11 April 1945, were scheduled to take
station at Cafaggiolo to replace the Fifth U.S. Army's Italian 130th Veterinary
Evacuation Hospital, but the change in the battlefront and lack of hospital
sites prevented the movement; instead, on 5 May 1945, the two units moved to San
Martino. The 2605th and the Italian 2d Veterinary General Hospitals, however,
were moved during April 1945 and set up station in the vicinity of Pontepetri;
on 1-2 May 1945, they closed station and were moved to Mirandola. During the
period from 19 April to 1 May, the 2605th Veterinary General Hospital admitted
99 animal patients-41 from the Italian 211th Veterinary Evacuation Hospital and
the remainder from the veterinary company of the 10th Mountain Division. In May
1945, with the surrender of the German armies in Italy, these four hospital
units were engaged in supporting remount operations. During the next month,
the Fifth U.S. Army's Italian pack mule companies and veterinary evacuation
hospitals were returned to the Military Ministry of the Italian Army, effective
on 30 June 1945.

European Theater

The veterinary evacuation
plan, which included the deployment of the 17th Veterinary Evacuation Hospital
and the 45th Separate Veterinary Company in the European theater, originated
with the preparations taken during mid-1944 in the Mediterranean theater for
Operation ANVIL (the invasion of southern France). Both units were reassigned in
mid-August 1944 from the Fifth U.S. Army in Italy to the Seventh U.S. Army and
subsequently transshipped to southern France. The hospital established station at Grenoble,
France, on 26 September 1944, and the company, moving in two shipments through
Vars, proceeded to Saint-RaphaŽl by 6 September and then moved to
Lons-le-Saunier on 14 September and to Sisterone on 17 September. The two Seventh U.S. Army units were attached to the First French Army
for operational control, effective on 21 September 1944, and, on 20 November
1944, all former Mediterranean theater units were transferred to the control of
the European theater.

Other units with animals
that came into the European theater through southern France included a
provisional quartermaster remount organization and the 601st and 602d Field
Artillery Battalions, each with its own veterinary detachment. The battalions,
arriving in France during September and October 1944 with approximately 800
mules and horses (60, 61), served under the 44th Antiaircraft Brigade, 6th Army
Group, in southeastern France until mid-March 1945 when they were dismounted.19 During the time that

19The 601st Field Artillery
Battalion moved on 31 August 1944, from Nemi, Italy, to Lake Avernus; it
departed on 13 October 1944, from Pozzuoli, Italy, arriving in Nice, France, on
15 October 1944. While in France, battalion elements were stationed at LeSuquet,
Peira-Cava, Drap, and Blausaso. On 16 March 1945, its animals were transferred
to the French 1st Division.
Detachment A of the 602d
Field Artillery Battalion moved from Nemi, Italy, to Lake Avernus, arriving on 1
September 1944; it departed on 18 September 1944, from Naples, arriving at
Marseilles,
France, on 24 September 1944. While in France, it moved to Saint-RaphaŽl, then
to Nice, and set up station at Val de Gorbio (Menton area). On 17 March 1945,
its animals were transferred to the Quartermaster, Delta Base Section.

591

the two battalions with
animals were a part of the Seventh U.S. Army (August 1944 through mid-March
1945), their disabled animals totaled 197, including 4 battle casualties, and
another 14 animals were killed in action, as shown in the following tabulation:

Number

601st Field Artillery Battalion:

Average mean
strength

385

Admissions:

For disease

20

For injury

1124

Total

144

Treatment-days

1,250

Average days per
admission

9

Died or destroyed

6

Killed in action

5

Number admitted per
1,000 average animal strength per year:

For disease

83.1

For injury

514.3

Total

597.4

Number per 1,000
average animal strength per year died or destroyed

23.4

602d Field Artillery Battalion:

Average mean
strength

362

Admissions:

For disease

21

For injury

32

Total

53

Treatment-days

597

Average days per
admission

11

Died or destroyed

14

Killed in action

9

Number admitted per
1,000 average animal strength per year:

For disease

77.3

For injury

118.8

Total

196.1

Number per 1,000
average animal strength per year died or destroyed

32.5

1Includes 4 battle casualties.

The more seriously sick and
injured animals in these two battalions were evacuated to a platoon of the 45th
Veterinary Company (Separate) that was located at Nice.

As a unit under the
operational control of the First French Army, the 45th Veterinary Company
(Separate) established its headquarters at Gap, France, on 29 September 1944,
remaining there until after V-E Day (62). Its
three platoons were deployed as follows: The 1st to Ch‚teauroux (40 kilometers
east of Gap) in support of the French Army; the 2d in support of the 513th
Quartermaster Pack Company (Separate), moving to VillŤ, France, to Dossenheim,
Germany (early January 1945), to Hangerville, France (in mid-January 1945), and
also to Liestadt, Germany; and the 3d Platoon, after 4 December 1944, at Nice,
where it supported the two field artillery battalions until their dismounting,
and then the French 1st DIM Division. The
1st and 2d Platoons returned

592

to the parent headquarters
at Gap, on 27 April and 1 May 1945, and were relieved from French Army
control on 19 May 1945; the 3d Platoon was reassigned to Seventh U.S. Army
control a few days later and rejoined the company at Gap on 31 May 1945. Until
this late date, the 45th Veterinary Company (Separate) received 285 animal
patients20 for treatment, of which number 31 died or were destroyed and 57
were evacuated to the 17th Veterinary Evacuation Hospital or to the 6835th
Quartermaster Remount Depot for additional treatment; the other 197 patients
were returned to duty (52). Stable treatment days totaled 4,688.

The 17th Veterinary
Evacuation Hospital operated under the operational control of the French Army at
Grenoble, France, for the period from 26 September 1944 to 30 April 1945, when
it was moved into Germany as a Third U.S. Army unit. During its stay in France,
the hospital received 400 animal patients, including 28 battle casualties, from
French Army organizations and from evacuees from the 45th Veterinary Company
(Separate);21 hospital treatment days totaled 23,442
(63). After release from
the French Army control, the 45th Veterinary Company (Separate) and the 17th
Veterinary
Evacuation Hospital departed for Germany on 30 April and 4 June 1945,
respectively.22

China-Burma-India Theater

The animal evacuation plans
in the China-Burma-India theater began inauspiciously during August 1942 when a
hospital operation was established at the Rāmgarh, India, training center. It
had for its objective the care and treatment of animals being issued to the
Chinese 22d and 38th Divisions which, having been driven out of Burma by the
Japanese enemy, were being Allied equipped and U.S. trained for new deployment.
The sponsoring of these Chinese units-sometimes referred to as the X-Force or
the Chinese Army in India-was a diversion from the original Allied strategy
which included assistance to the Chinese military forces in China. However,
until Burma was cleared of the Japanese and the overland route into China was
reopened, material assistance, except by aerial transport, was not generally
possible. Thus, in time, U.S. combat teams (that is, Merrill's Marauders and,
later, the MARS Brigade) and the U.S.-trained Chinese military units entered in
campaigns against the Japanese in Burma. A plan of animal evacuation was
operated for each. A third plan came into existence in the theater's services of
supply organization to support the remount service that

20The sources of these 285
animal patients were as follows: 37 from the French First Army, 9 from the
French 27th Alpine Division, 104 from the French 1st DIM, 96 from the U.S. 513th
Quartermaster Pack Company, 35 from the U.S. 601st and 602d Field Artillery
Battalions, and 4 from other sources.
21Of the 400 animal
patients, 350 originated from French Army sources.
22The hospital unit moved
to Geislingen (7 June 1945), Heidenheim (7 June to 8 August 1945), Rohrbach (8
August to 22
September 1945), and then to Kirchheim. During this time, no animal patients were treated. The
company unit proceeded to Augsburg (arriving on 1 May 1945) and then to
Rosengarten and to
Heidelberg.

593

was started during November
1943 when the first of 30 incoming shipments of approximately 10,000 U.S. Army
mules and horses was disembarked at Calcutta, India. These evacuation plans were
actually begun during May 1943 with the arrival of the 1st Veterinary Company
(Separate) from the Zone of Interior; 7 months later, the Veterinary Company,
13th Mountain Medical Battalion, came into the China-Burma-India theater. After
mid≠1944, new unit activations within the theater and additional arrivals saw
the Army Veterinary Service include as many as 5 separate companies, a
veterinary
company of a mountain medical battalion, 2 evacuation hospitals, 1 hospital
detachment, and 24 animal service detachments (as of December 1944). In that
month, the U.S. animal strength alone averaged 5,981 mules and horses in the
India-Burma theater. Of course, it must be understood that the China-Burma-India theater was divided into two separate theaters during October 1944,
and a number of the foregoing veterinary units had been transferred or moved
into China by that time. In the China theater, the units were attached and
superimposed upon the Chinese armies in a liaison capacity and as an exemplary
chain of animal evacuation. The U.S. animal strength in the India-Burma theater
continued to increase, reaching a peak monthly mean of 7,531 mules and horses
during February 1945, and of as many as 1,730 mules and horses in the China
theater during July 1945. At no time were the true Chinese military animal
strengths known.

The animal evacuation plan
for the Chinese Army in India was dependent almost entirely on the Chinese
veterinary platoons included in the organic composition of the field army and
division.23 These veterinary platoons were comparable in their functional
organization to the former U.S. "square" division's veterinary
company, included Chinese personnel trained by the Army Veterinary Service, and
in the subsequent Burma campaigns were technically supervised by U.S. liaison
veterinary officers (64). The movement of disabled animals rearward from the
Chinese divisional army and veterinary platoons was not impressed during the
earlier training periods of the Chinese Army in India because of the known
reluctance of Chinese tactical commanders to move any kind of animal outside of
their immediate jurisdiction and the belief that the Burma terrain (including
jungles and mountains) would make impossible the movement of evacuation and
location of veterinary hospital sites. However, when these Chinese units
entered Burma, U.S. veterinary units were deployed to support the Chinese
veterinary platoons, and an evacuation plan was made operational through the
assistance of the U.S. liaison teams with the Chinese tactical divisions.
Originally, the 1st Veterinary Company (Separate) of the theater's services of
supply organization was so deployed, but during December 1943 it was replaced by
the newly arrived Veterinary Company, 13th Mountain Medical Battalion (figs.
63 and 64). The latter moved

23Each such platoon was
authorized 2 officers, 1 warrant officer, and 24 enlisted personnel; the animal
strengths of the Chinese division approximated 1,600 and that of the army, 850
horses and mules.

about in the theater's
Northern Combat Area Command in support of the Chinese Army in India throughout
the North and the Central Burma Campaigns, until its inactivation on 2 June
1945.

Other units, including three
separate veterinary companies and an evacuation hospital, were used in the
animal evacuation plan of the Northern Combat Area Command during December
1944. However, by that time these were more urgently needed elsewhere, and the
needs of the Chinese Army in India were considerably lessened-a few of the
Chinese divisions soon being moved out of Burma into China. The veterinary units
included a major part of the 7th Veterinary Company (Separate) which assisted in
the aerial movement of some 5,000 Chinese military animals into China; its 3d
Platoon element, however, was used in the Central Burma Campaign to support
the MARS Brigade. The other two companies, the 43d and the 44th-once
removed
from the schedule for redeployment into China because of Chinese objections
against Negro troops-were used in a miscellany of service duties and then were
inactivated during June 1945. The hospital unit was the 19th Veterinary
Evacuation Hospital, but it was not operational until its equipment arrived
when it was transferred to the China theater (February 1945).

There was no accurate
accounting of the animal morbidity and mortality in the Chinese Army in India.
United States veterinary officers on liaison duty with the Chinese armies and
divisions frequently provided professional assistance only where the disease and
injury were of a more serious nature. The numbers of such cases and the numbers
of Chinese animals admitted to U.S. veterinary hospitals, however, totaled more
than 20,000 (table 52).

Another plan of animal
evacuation was operated for the U.S. tactical organizations that fought in
Burma (64). The first of two such organizations was the GALAHAD Force or the
5307th Composite Regiment (Provisional), or the more popularly known Merrill's
Marauders. It depended on the 31st and the 33d Quartermaster Pack Troops to
transport supplies, including artillery pieces which were airdropped after the
regiment entered the Burma jungles.24 Beginning at the head of the
Hukawng Valley (during February 1944) with 360 horses and 230 mules, the Merrill's
Marauders by August 1944

24The 31st Quartermaster
Pack Troop came into the theater from the Zone of Interior on 6 Jan. 1944,
aboard the animal transport Samuel H. Walker which departed New Orleans Port of
Embarkation, 14 Oct. 1943, with 329 mules and 26 horses. The 33d Quartermaster
Pack Troop came into the theater during December 1943, but its animal transport, Jose Navarro, departing New Orleans Port of Embarkation with 330 mules and 28
horses, was sunk en route (26 Dec. 1944). Each shipment was accompanied by a
transport veterinary detachment. For the campaign in North Burma, the latter
pack troop was remounted with horses newly arrived from New Caledonia.

1Of the 5,776 cases
admitted for hospital treatment, 576 animals died or were destroyed for disease
and injury, including: Surra and surra suspect, 113; wounds, all varieties,
63; fistula, 48; laminitis, 27; under observation, 19; epizootic lymphangitis,
18; fracture of bone, 18; equine infectious anemia, 17; malnutrition, 17;
pneumonia, 16; quittor, 15; anemia, 13; intestinal fermentation, 13; cicatrix,
12; enteritis, 11; septicemia, 9; piroplasmosis equorum, 8; and 7 each for
filariasis, glanders, and strongylosis. 2For the period from 1
April through 31 July 1945 (noting the overlap of the month of April in the
table), the cases observed or treated in the India-Burma theater totaled 1,370
(723 for disease and 647 for injury), and the hospital cases totaled 1,229 (516
for disease and 713 for injury). For the period from 16 May 1943 through 30
April 1944 alone, hospital treatment days totaled 31,121.
Source: Mohri, R. W.: World
War II History of the Army Veterinary Service, China-Burma-India. [Official record.]

lost 90 percent of these
animals in the southward drive to Myitkyina, Burma. The losses were as follows (65, 66,
67):

Number

Died

160

Destroyed

45

Killed in action

220

Strayed

50

Transferred

70

Unknown

30

The battle casualties were
suffered for the most part in a battalion of the Merrill's Marauders that was
surrounded for 14 days and subjected to enemy mortar and artillery fire;
injuries received in combat additionally resulted in 20 percent of the animals
lost by death and 70 percent of those which were destroyed. Exhaustion from
overexertion accounted for 70 percent of the deaths and 20 percent of the
animals destroyed. Diseases, principally thrush of the feet and some few cases
of sand colic and plant poisoning, and injuries due to marching and saddle
sores accounted for the remainder of the deaths and destruction. The mules
outperformed the horses during the campaign and seemed to better tolerate the
noise of gunfire and aerial bombardment. It was believed that nonbattle diseases
and injuries would have been lessened by 90 percent had the animals been
acclimatized and conditioned before being entered into campaign and had the
combat troops been better trained in animal care and management.

597

Following the capture of
Myitkyina, the Merrill's Marauders were succeeded by the 5332d Brigade
(Provisional), effective on 10 August 1944 (68). The latter, also called
MARS
Force, comprised the 475th Infantry Regiment, 124th Cavalry Regiment
(Dismounted), and the Chinese 1st Infantry Regiment, as well as the 612th and
613th Field Artillery Battalions (Pack) (69, 70)25 and six quartermaster pack
troops, the 31st, 33d, 35th, 37th, 252d, and 253d.26 Their animal strength
aggregated 2,960 mules and 2,850 horses. For this number of animals, a brigade
veterinary service was organized to include a brigade veterinarian, six
veterinary sections, each with a veterinary officer, for the regiments to
which the pack troops were attached, and the organic veterinary detachments of
the two field artillery battalions.27 This was
supported by the 18th
Veterinary Evacuation Hospital (fig. 65) which established station at Myitkyina on 26 September 1944, and by the 3d Platoon, 7th
Veterinary Company (Separate) (71). Up to 27 December 1944, that hospital received 350 cases of disease and
injury, including a great number of so-called foot cases (infested, underrun
soles); the latter disappeared, however, after the end of the rainy season.
Hospital collection and treatment stations were set up after December 1944 at
Nalong and Myothit, but the main body of the hospital was located at Bhamo,
Burma.

With the termination of
Japanese resistance in central Burma, the 5332d Brigade (Provisional) was
disbanded. Its two field artillery battalions with

25The 612th Field Artillery
Battalion came into the theater from the Zone of Interior on three animal
transports, as follows: (1) on the Cyrus W. Fields, departing New Orleans
Port
of Embarkation, 22 July 1944, with 304 mules and 6 horses, arriving at
Calcutta, 23 Sept. 1944; (2) on the Henry Dearborn, departing New Orleans
Port of Embarkation, 16 July 1944, with 313 mules and 7 horses, arriving at
Calcutta, 26 Sept. 1944; and (3) on the William S. Halstead, departing New
Orleans Port of Embarkation, 28 July 1944, with 314 mules and 6 horses, arriving
at Calcutta, 4 Oct. 1944. Veterinary transport services were rendered by the 52d
and 53d, the 51st, and the 55th and the 56th Veterinary Animal Service
Detachments, respectively. The 613th Field Artillery Battalion, less its
animals, arrived on 23 Nov. 1944. The two battalions were activated in the Zone
of Interior at Camp Gruber, Okla., during December 1943 to January 1944; just
before their movement to Camp Carson, Colo., in February 1944, each was
assigned a battalion veterinary officer.
26The 35th Quartermaster Pack Troop came into the theater, 1 Sept. 1944, on the animal transport Charles
Wooster which departed New Orleans Port of Embarkation, 29 June 1944,
with 310 mules and 8 horses, and was accompanied by the 54th Veterinary Animal
Service Detachment. The 37th Quartermaster Pack Troop, departing on 4 Aug. 1944,
from the New Orleans Port of Embarkation, arrived on 30 Sept. 1944, on the
animal transport Joshua Hendy, with 311 mules and 9 horses, and was
accompanied by the 57th and 58th Veterinary Animal Service Detachments. The 252d
Quartermaster Pack Troop came into the theater on 11 Oct. 1944, on the animal
transport Zone Gale, which departed New Orleans Port of Embarkation on 5
Aug. 1944, with 298 mules and 9 horses, and was accompanied by the 61st
Veterinary
Animal Service Detachment. Elements of the last two troops also arrived in the
theater on 2 Oct. 1944, on the animal transport John J. Crittenden, which
departed New Orleans Port of Embarkation on 4 Aug. 1944, with 320 mules, and was
accompanied by the 59th and 60th Veterinary Animal Service Detachments. The 253d
Quartermaster Pack Troop arrived on 19 Oct. 1944, on the animal transport Santiago Iglesias, accompanied by the 62d Veterinary Animal Service
Detachment; 141 mules were embarked on 16 Aug. 1944, at New Orleans Port of
Embarkation and another 8 mules and 161 horses were embarked on 11 Sept. 1944,
at Noumea, New Caledonia (in the South Pacific Area). See also footnote 24,
p. 595. 27These officer personnel
included: Brigade
Veterinarian, Lt. Col. F. M. Bolin;
475th Infantry Regiment, Capts. H. C. Phelps, P. E. Smith, and C. L. Nowlin;
124th Cavalry Regiment, Capts. W. R. Fetzer, A. M. Pickard, and A. P. Wilson;
612th Field Artillery Battalion, Capt. K. L. Etchinson (evacuated on 28 Jan.
1945) and his replacement, Capt. J. E. Mouw; and 613th Field Artillery
Battalion, Capt. J. T. Martin.

900 animals departed for the
China theater during the latter part of May 1944, followed during the next month
by the 1,550 animals belonging to the six quartermaster pack troops.

The support for the remount
operations of the theater's services of supply began at Rāmgarh when the Army
Veterinary Service assisted the U.S.-trained Chinese divisions in their
lend-lease receipts of animals from the British and Indian Armies (64). Though a veterinary hospital was in operation more or less since August
1942, this Rāmgarh facility was given formal recognition when a detachment of
the 1st Veterinary Company (Separate) was detailed there on 27 July 1943. After
November 1943, when the first of 10,000 U.S. military animals came into the
China-Burma-India theater and the Chinese forces were moved into northeastern
India, the center of remount activities was moved northward into the Assam and
Burma areas. There the remount depot at Ledo was being serviced by the 1st
Veterinary Company (Separate), less its detachment at Rāmgarh. Another detachment of the same company unit
established hospital
services for a new remount depot at Shillong, Assam, during October 1944, in
which area the 1st Veterinary Company (Separate) was fully

599

re-formed during December
1944. In the interim, the hospital operations by the company at Rāmgarh were
taken over (on 6 July 1944) by three locally activated animal service
detachments-the 39th, 40th, and
41st-but, in
December 1944, these, too, were
moved to Shillong, and the original hospital was closed. The veterinary service
at the Ledo remount depot was continued by the 2d Veterinary Company (Separate)
and the 51st and 52d Veterinary Animal Service Detachments in December 1944,
these units arriving from the Zone of Interior at about this time and replacing
the 1st Veterinary Company (Separate) which had transferred to Shillong.

Aside from these remount
depot hospitals, the Army Veterinary Service established one in Calcutta, where
the incoming animals were disembarked. The port hospital facility was operated
by the 78th Veterinary Hospital Detachment, beginning in October 1944; before
that time, animals coming off the transports and found disabled or too sick for
immediate movement northward to Assam and Burma were cared for by the Indian
Army's 41st Veterinary Hospital.

China Theater

The veterinary evacuation
plan for the Chinese Army in China was one of superimposing U.S. units, in
addition to the attachment of liaison veterinary officers, on the Chinese
tactical armies and divisions (72). The plan was at variance with that used earlier in India to the extent
that 19 veterinary animal service detachments were brought into the China
theater for attachment to the Chinese armies and divisions, but the rear echelon
support of these with U.S. veterinary hospitals and evacuation units was not
fully developed. In the beginning, there was a program of sponsoring a so-called
Y-Force of 27 Chinese divisions; another program was scheduled later for a
Z-Force of additional Chinese divisions in eastern China. However, the
southerly advances by the Japanese enemy toward the American airbases disrupted
the schedules of preparing the Chinese forces which were necessarily entered
into combat when the needs arose. Until this occurred, however, the Chinese
units were reorganized and equipped and trained as much as was possible after
the pattern of the U.S. Army. Such training was given to more than 300 Chinese
Army veterinary officers and to 1,600 enlisted technicians, horseshoers, and
stable sergeants of the Chinese military forces (fig. 66). The U.S.-sponsored
Chinese army and division were reorganized to include a veterinary detachment,
comprising 3 officers and 24 enlisted men, which was designed to collect and
treat disabled animals within the relevant army or division. This
detachment was a complete entity in itself, uncoordinated with any
other veterinary detachment in the Chinese field forces, and was not expected to
participate in any sort of an evacuation plan because the Chinese tactical
commanders, uncertain of the supply of replacement animals, would use the
animals in spite of their inefficiency, or until they died. This frontline
Chinese military veterinary service organization was further hampered by the
fact that some

Chinese armies and divisions
had no veterinary detachment or one which had only 40 percent of the number of
personnel normally authorized.

In order to improve the
Chinese unit veterinary service, the China-Burma≠India theater, in May 1943,
planned for the deployment of at least 30 U.S. veterinary detachments with the
Chinese forces (64). An unaccountable delay was experienced in the execution of
the plan. During July 1944, the War Department approved and ordered the theater
to organize 12 veterinary animal service detachments from local resources and
began the transshipment of another 12 detachments from the Zone of Interior, the
latter arriving during September and October 1944. Of the 12 locally activated
detachments (the 39th through the 50th Veterinary Animal Service Detachments),
3 were retained in the India-Burma area, and the 42d through the 50th were
moved to the China theater. There, as new elements of that theater's Y-Force
Operations Staff, they were immediately attached to artillery regiments,
transportation regiments, and the U.S. liaison teams with the Chinese forces
participating in the Salween campaign, which led to the opening of the China
side of the Burma Road (73 through 81). Of the 12 veterinary animal service
detachments
received from the Zone of Interior, 2 were retained in India and Burma (the 51st
and 52d Veterinary Animal Service Detachments), and the

601

53d through the 62d
Veterinary Animal Service Detachments were deployed to the China theater. The
latter, after a period of indoctrination and orientation at the YŁnnan Field
Artillery Training Center, China, were subsequently attached to the
U.S.-sponsored Chinese field armies (82 through 91). By the end of January 1945,
nearly all animal service detachments were attached to a Chinese army (table 53); a few were deployed in the U.S. services of
supply centers of veterinary
training and remount activities in China. Later, however, with the increased
enemy activity against U.S. airbases, all detachments were attached to the
Chinese armies and were moved into eastern and then into southern China. In the
period from February through August 1945, these detachments and the U.S.
veterinary officers with the liaison teams on duty with the Chinese military
forces registered 11,105 cases of disease and injury among the animals of the
Chinese forces that averaged a monthly strength of more than 21,000 (table 54).
During the times that the relevant Chinese units were relatively inactive, the
veterinary animal service detachments assisted in programs of training
Chinese personnel in veterinary medicine, horseshoeing, and the packing of
animals.

During the spring of 1945,
the original veterinary planning was extended28 to superimpose additional
units on the Chinese military forces (72). Large units, surplus to the needs of
the India-Burma theater, were to be brought into China, and a complete U.S.
animal evacuation plan was to be established. In fact, the 19th Veterinary
Evacuation Hospital and the 7th Veterinary Company (Separate), less its 3d
Platoon, had been transferred into China during February and March 1945. Other
units were scheduled for movement into China but did not arrive because of more
urgent needs at the time for services of supply food inspection detachments
and the swift series of events which led to V-J Day. Neither the hospital nor
company was used in any evacuation plan on arrival in China; instead, they were
used to operate stations along the westward route of the mounted Chinese
military forces moving to halt the Japanese advances on Chih-chiang and to
open the subsequent offensives in and about Liu-chou (92).

In addition to the support
of the Chinese military forces, the Army Veterinary Service also cared for
U.S.-owned animals which were procured locally or brought into the China theater
for transfer to the Chinese (93). The
latter included approximately 1,500 mules and horses belonging to the two field
artillery battalions and six quartermaster pack troops of the MARS Brigade,
which was being disbanded following the completion of the Central Burma
Campaign. Until these animals began to arrive from the India-Burma theater
after traversing the Burma and Stilwell Roads, the China theater's animal
strength had gradually increased from a monthly mean in January 1945 of 96
horses and mules to 379 horses and mules by May 1945. These were used in the
mounting of the liaison teams and the veterinary units with the Chinese

28Plans were prepared to
deploy 7 veterinary companies (separate) and 56 veterinary animal service
detachments-the latter for each of the 14 Chinese armies and 42 Chinese
divisions.

1In the fall of 1944, the 42d
through the 50th Veterinary Animal Service Detachments saw service with the
Chinese Second, Fifth, Sixth, Eighth, Fifty-third, Fifty-fourth, and
Seventy-first Armies along the Burma-China border. Additional changes in the
period from June through August 1945 included only the 49th Veterinary Animal
Service Detachment with the Chinese Fifty-third Army, being attached to the
Reserve Command, and the 54th Veterinary Animal Service Detachment, being
attached to the Chinese Fifty-second Army, Southern Command.

armies and divisions. With
the arrival of animals of the field artillery battalions and quartermaster
pack troops belonging to the former MARS Brigade, this strength increased to a
peak of 1,740 mules and horses for July 1945. By the end of September 1945, all
animals were transferred to the Chinese Army.

Central Pacific Area

Evacuation plans comparable
to those operated in the Mediterranean, European, and China-Burma-India
theaters were developed in the several areas of the Pacific theater where the
animal strengths aggregated a peak of 8,900 horses and mules. These animals
belonged to a cavalry regiment, a cavalry quartermaster troop, field artillery
battalions, quartermaster pack troops, and remount troops, each including an
organic veterinary detachment or serviced by a small veterinary unit. The
veterinary units in a few areas were supported by a veterinary hospital.
However, the original strategic or tactical planning which led to the assemblage
of this number of animals and this staging of veterinary units was changed so
that most were not actively deployed into any real campaign.

The carrier-based aerial
attack on Pearl Harbor (on 7 December 1941) found most of the 350 animals in the
Hawaiian Department assigned to the Hawaiian Department Pack Train (94). This
organization, with station at Schofield Barracks, Oahu, T.H., was divided into
small reconnaissance patrols and pack detachments which were used to improve the
trails, lay signal communications, and transport supplies to mountain
observation posts; their required professional services were rendered by the
department's veterinary sta-

604

tion hospital (95). A small
group of animals was stationed at Fort Shafter, Oahu, and were serviced by the
department's veterinary general hospital which was moved to Fort Armstrong and
then was replaced during March 1945 by the newly activated 113th Medical Service
Company (Veterinary).

On 30 June 1944, the
Hawaiian Department Pack Train was disbanded, and the 4339th and 4340th
Quartermaster Pack Troops were activated at Schofield Barracks. A third pack
troop-the
30th-and the 63d, 64th, and 65th Veterinary Animal Service
Detachments, one for each pack troop, arrived on 3 December 1944, from the Zone
of Interior. At this late date, 916 mules and horses also arrived from the Zone
of Interior29 and were added to the original group of pack train animals to
mount the three pack troops. These units were being staged for Operation LONGTOM
(an amphibious assault and landing on the southeastern coast of China) which was
canceled at a later date; on 15 September 1945, the three pack troops were
inactivated. During the 9-month period, the attached veterinary detachments
treated 456 cases of disease and injury among the pack troop animals and could
refer those of a more serious nature to the veterinary station hospital (96, 97,
98).

Before the end of the war,
the Central Pacific Area's animal evacuation plan for the pack troops was
furthered with the activation (on 6 August 1945) of the 38th Headquarters,
Veterinary Animal Service. This unit established administrative control over the
63d, 64th, and 65th Veterinary Animal Service Detachments. The four units were
assigned to the theater's Combat Training Command on Oahu. Another unit, the
306th Veterinary Hospital Detachment, arrived from the Zone of Interior during
June 1945. However, on account of its late arrival (after the discontinuance
of Operation LONGTOM planning), this hospital team was attached to the
Veterinary Station Hospital, Schofield Barracks, for training, and then was
scheduled for deployment to Okinawa when the Japanese surrendered.

With the inactivation of the
quartermaster pack troops after V-J Day, the animals were placed on a caretaking
basis in the quartermaster service units on Oahu-a few being sold locally, and
the remaining 900 being held for UNRRA (United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation
Administration). The three veterinary detachments formerly with the pack
troops were kept intact at this time in connection with plans for them to
accompany the shipment of the UNRRA animals to China.30 However, before the end of
1945, both the 38th Headquarters, Veterinary Animal Service, and the 306th
Veterinary Hospital Detachment were inactivated.

29These animals arrived in
two shipments originating from the San Francisco Port of Embarkation: The F.
J. Luckenbach, departing on 13 November 1944, with 587 mules and 13 horses, and
the William J. Palmer, departing on 20 November 1944, with 316 mules. Mention
may be made that another shipment, originating from the same port, had provided
30 mules to the former Hawaiian Department Pack Train during January 1943. 30The 63d, 64th, and 65th
Veterinary Animal Service Detachments were inactivated on 14 May 1946. In the
preceding month, 792 mules were shipped as planned.

605

South Pacific Area

On New Caledonia, where
approximately 2,800 horses and mules were assembled by late 1942, no animal
evacuation plan or hospital was established (94). Instead, the veterinary animal
service was limited almost entirely to the level of a battalion or regiment,
beginning soon after the American First Task Force (later becoming the Americal Division) landed at
Noumea. On 1 April 1942, the 97th Field Artillery
Battalion (less its animals) arrived from the Zone of Interior and was partially
mounted with a few animals obtained locally and 490 horses which arrived from
Australia in two shipments, on 25 May and 24 June 1942. The battalion's horses
were replaced by mules arriving from the Zone of Interior and the Panama
Canal Department on and after 6 July 1942. On this date, a remount unit-Troop A,
252d Quartermaster Remount Squadron, redesignated in January 1943 as Troop B,
251st Quartermaster Remount Squadron-arrived from the Zone of Interior and
established a depot on the Ducos Peninsula; it processed all subsequent animal
shipping on New Caledonia. Altogether, 781 mules were received, and 2,048 horses
arrived from Australia (in the Southwest Pacific Area).

The second of two mounted
units, the 112th Cavalry Regiment, arrived 11 August 1942, and was provided with
approximately 1,500 animals from the remount depot. While on New Caledonia this
regiment, along with the 97th Field Artillery Battalion, and each with its own
organic veterinary detachments, was a part of the Americal Division. However,
with the transfer of that division to Guadalcanal during November 1942, the two
tactical units were subordinated into the so-called First Island Command, South
Pacific Area. Up through December 1942, that command's battalion and regimental
veterinary detachments treated more than 1,400 cases of disease and injury in
the animals of their units (table 55) (99).

After January 1943, the
number of animals on New Caledonia decreased. The 97th Field Artillery
Battalion, with its animals, was transferred to Guadalcanal. The 112th Cavalry
Regiment was dismounted during May 1943 and then was transferred to the
Southwest Pacific Area; until this time the regimental animal disabilities had
totaled 717 cases (table 55) (100). However, the regimental animals were turned
in to the remount depot on New Caledonia, from which they were transshipped to
the China-Burma-India theater over a 1-year period starting in September 1943.
In these remount operations, the 112th Cavalry Regiment's veterinary detachment
assisted in the operation of the depot's veterinary dispensary. Having been
detached from its parent unit since May 1943, the detachment finally departed
from New Caledonia during November 1944. At this time, only a few animals
remained on New Caledonia, and these were used for administrative purposes,
there being only two horses as of June 1945.

The 97th Field Artillery
Battalion, with its 947 mules and horses, was moved from New Caledonia to
Guadalcanal in three shipments during the

1The specific causes of the loss
of 45 animals included the following diseases and injuries: Fractures, 12; and
wounds, 12.2The specific cause of the loss of 124 animals included the following
diseases and injuries: Cachexia and malnutrition, 14; separation of the sole of
the foot, 14; ossification of the lateral cartilages of the foot, 12; fractures,
10; and heat exhaustion, 8.

607

early months of 1943. It was briefly employed in that campaign.31 Then, for more than a year, the animals were kept on a caretaking basis,
during which time (January 1943 through 3 May 1944) the number of cases of sick
and injured animals totaled 921; the number of animals dying or destroyed on
account
of disease and injury was 124 (table 55). During March 1944, when preparations
were started for transshipment out of the South Pacific Area to the
China-Burma-India theater, a survey of the animals for combat serviceability
led to the finding of 83 mules and horses as unsuitable; these were destroyed
and another four were transferred to the Guadalcanal Service Command. Then, in
two shipments, one on 25 March 1944, and the other on 3 May 1944, the 97th Field
Artillery Battalion's animals, totaling 763, were transshipped from Guadalcanal.32

Southwest Pacific Area

At the time of the attack by
Japan, the Philippine Department's animal strength approximated 1,550 horses and
mules (101). For the most part, these were located at Forts William McKinley and
Stotsenberg, each with a station veterinary hospital, or belonged to four
tactical units: The 26th Cavalry Regiment, the 23d Field Artillery Battalion
(Battery A) (Philippine Scouts), and the 65th and 66th Separate Quartermaster
Pack Troops (Philippine Scouts), each with a veterinary detachment. During
December 1941, the Army Veterinary Service in the Philippine Islands treated 297
disabled animals, including 35 battle casualties, of which number 50 died or
were destroyed. Another 419 animals were lost by release from corrals or killed
in action. During the next month the tactical unit animal strengths approximated
850 animals. During March 1942, the surviving animals which were not in the best
condition were being slaughtered to provide food to the troops defending Bataan
and Corregidor (102, 103, 104).

Following the surrender of
the Philippines, the tactical planning in late 1942 for the newly established
Southwest Pacific Area included the mounting of seven field artillery battalions
and the activation of nine quartermaster pack companies (troops). Animal
requirements were estimated at 10,792 mules and 7,541 horses (105). It was
believed that each battalion and troop should be provided with a small
veterinary detachment or section, and the latter, in turn, was to be augmented
by three veterinary evacuation hospitals. This planning was changed and finally
discontinued during late 1943. During July 1943, the 1st Cavalry Division (less
its animals), with a complete divi≠

31The first shipment,
including 222 mules and 78 horses, departed on 16 January 1943, from New
Caledonia; the second shipment, comprising 257 mules and 63 horses, was en
route, 4-11 March 1943; and the third shipment, comprising 274 mules and 53
horses, was en route, 6-12 April 1943. 32The 25 March 1944
shipment, comprising 570 mules and 30 horses, was made on the animal transport, Virginian, accompanied by 1st Lt. E. W. George, VC. The 3 May 1944 shipment of
61 mules and 102 horses was made on the Peter Silvester, accompanied by 1st Lt.
H. L. Marsh, VC. (The latter shipment included an additional 152 animals loaded,
on 11 May 1944, at New Caledonia.) The transports arrived at Calcutta, India,
during May and June 1944, respectively.

608

sional veterinary service,
came into the theater from the Zone of Interior,33 but it received only 20
animals which were retained for a few months (106). Before this tactical
planning came to a stop, approximately 3,500 horses were procured in Australia
by April-May 1943 and were assembled at Townsville by Troop A, 251st
Quartermaster Remount Squadron, and another 1,521 mules were received from the
Zone of Interior and were diverted to New Guinea when the Australian
governmental health officials refused to permit their landing on Australia. The
horses were issued to a field artillery battalion and four quartermaster pack
troops in Australia, and, on New Guinea, the mules were issued to another field
artillery battalion and a quartermaster troop.

Against the originally
planned requirements, 16 veterinary sections or detachments arrived in Australia
during March and September 1943; however, only a few were actually deployed in
animal service activities. The latter included Veterinary Sections D, E, F, G,
H, and I which were used in the operations of the veterinary dispensary of Troop
A, 251st Quartermaster Remount Squadron, at Townsville, or were attached to
newly activated or converted mounted tactical units. The units receiving horses
from the remount depot were the 62d and 63d Quartermaster Pack Troops and the
167th Field Artillery Pack Battalion, first during February 1943, and then,
during April 1943, the 61st and the 68th Quartermaster Pack Troops.34 The
veterinary requirements of these five units were met by the dispensary of
the remount depot or by the units' own veterinary detachments-the latter
treating more than 800 sick and wounded animals (table 56) (107, 108, 109,
110). The situation did not last for any great length of time because,
beginning
on 24 September 1943, the pack troops were dismounted and their animals were
returned to the remount depot, and the field artillery battalion was finally
dismounted on 11 November 1943. Within a short time after this, the depot was
discontinued and the animals were transferred to the Australian Army;
subsequently, many were transshipped to the China-Burma-India theater. The
veterinary sections, including those which arrived during September 1943 and
were deployed from the onset in veterinary food inspection and medical supply
operations (that is, Veterinary Sections K, L, M, N, O, P, Q, R, S, and Z), were
disbanded on 1 October 1944, and their personnel were reassigned into several
newly activated food inspection detachments.

The 1,521 mules on New
Guinea were received in three shipments from the Zone of Interior-those of the
98th Field Artillery Battalion arriving on 23 February and 9 June 1943,35 and the
323 mules of Troop D, 16th Cavalry

33The 1st Cavalry Division
was continued in active service in a dismounted status throughout World War II.
34The 61st and 68th
Quartermaster Pack Troops came into the theater from the Panama Canal Department
and the Zone of Interior, respectively.
35The 23 February 1943
shipment of the 98th Field Artillery Battalion departed on 14 January 1943, from
the San Francisco Port of Embarkation, with 600 mules on the Virginian; 2
animals died en route (heat exhaustion). The 9 June 1943 shipment also
originated from the San Francisco Port of Embarkation.

1The data for the 62d
Quartermaster Pack Troop are not shown because they were integrated into the
reports of sick and wounded animals of the veterinary dispensary, Troop A 251st
Quartermaster Remount Squadron, as were the earlier data of the other units in
Australia. Likewise, the May 1943 data for the 61st Quartermaster Pack Troop are
not shown because they were integrated in the report of disabled animals of the
68th Quartermaster Pack Troop.2The specific causes of the loss of 57 animals in Australia included
the following diseases and injuries: Fractures of bone, 8; laminitis, 8;
pneumonia, 8; disease of bone, 4; exhauston, 4; emphysema, 3; hemorrhage, 2; and
injury, 2. The specific causes of the loss of 17 animals on New Guinea included
the following diseases and injuries: Wounds, 6; fractures of bone, 2; hemorhage,
2; and 1 each on account of bradycardia, drowning, heat exhaustion, septicemia,
strangles, sunstroke, and tumor.

610

Quartermaster Squadron
(Horse) being disembarked on 23 July 1943 (111).36 Both units contained their
own veterinary detachments, and that of the squadron also, for a brief period of
time, provided professional services to the remount depot facility which was
organized at Port Moresby in mid-1943 by the Advanced Echelon of the parent
Troop A, 251st Quartermaster Remount Squadron, in Australia. The battalion and
troop veterinary detachments were supported by the 16th Veterinary Evacuation
Hospital which had arrived and established station on this island base on 17
February 1943 (112).37 Until Troop D, 16th Cavalry Quartermaster Squadron
(Horse) was dismounted (20 October 1943), its veterinary detachment reported on
116 disabled animals, including 5 dying or destroyed; most of these were sent to
the evacuation hospital for treatment. During a year's period of general
inactivity, the animal disabilities of the 98th Field Artillery Battalion
totaled 129, including 17 animals dying or destroyed on account of disease
(table 56). Of this number, 25 to 30 percent were sent to the 16th Veterinary
Evacuation Hospital for additional treatment. The 98th Field Artillery Battalion
during this period was reorganized at least twice, with cutbacks in its animal
strength, and finally was dismounted on 11 March 1944.

With the dismounting of
both the squadron and battalion units, the mules on New Guinea were placed in a
caretaking status at the remount depot. After October 1943, the professional
services of the depot were provided by the 16th Veterinary Evacuation Hospital.
That hospital, in the period from August 1943 through 5 October 1944, received
more than 1,100 animals for treatment, most of these originating from the
remount depot. The latter date marked the closure of the 16th Veterinary
Evacuation Hospital on New Guinea and the start of preparations by it to move
into the Philippine Islands where it was entered into the theater's food
inspection service. By the time of the movement, most of the mules on New Guinea
were transshipped to the China-Burma-India theater.

References

1. SGO Forms 215 and 215a,
Veterinary Division, SGO, 1941-45.

2. Merillat, L. A., and
Campbell, D. M.: Veterinary Military History of the United States. Chicago:
Veterinary Magazine Corp., 1933.

3. Annual Report of The
Surgeon General, United States Army. Washington: U.S. Government Printing
Office, 1940.

4. Annual Report of The
Surgeon General, United States Army. Washington: U.S. Government Printing
Office, 1941.

5. Annual reports,
Veterinary Division, SGO, 1942-46.

6. AR 40-2065, 31 Oct. 1921.

7. AR 40-2065, 18 Dec. 1942.

36The troop departed on 18
June 1943, from the San Francisco Port of Embarkation, with these mules on the Peter
Silvester. The unit arrived in Australia on 14 July 1943, departing 19 July for New
Guinea.37The hospital unit arrived
on 31 January 1943 in Brisbane, Australia, setting up camp at Camp Carina; it
departed on 10 February 1943 on the S.S. Bushnell and arrived on 17 February
1943 at Port Moresby, New Guinea.